Shattered Blades: Fragments
by DrakeValkyr
Summary: A collection of alternate, what if, and behind the scenes from Shattered Blades


A/N:

So, this is the first Omake of Shattered. Be forewarned, this is also a partial spoiler for the fifth chapter of Shattered as it deals with Karasuba's winging.

On that note, for a few weeks this was how Shattered was going to turn out. The scene was inspired partly by how the story was progressing and also one key review that made me unable to think of anything else. So in the end, the scene where Karasuba is winged was spilt into having two endings. Ultimately, I drafted two different versions of the plot based on this scene in order to choose what one I'd keep and this version looked like it was ending up much like Postnuptial Disagreements (If you haven't read that one yet, I highly recommend it). Long story short, the plot following this ending was a lot shorter and darker than what I had intended and contained ALL the character death. I mean almost everyone died by the end of it.

This is the one I decided not to keep, but decided to share since it was a near thing to being the actual end to chapter 5.

I hope you all enjoy.

Here We Go:

_Rule of Steel_

"Gae –" My incantation was abruptly interrupted by a tongue shoving its way into my mouth. For a second, the sheer incredulity of the action made me realize that it was an effective method for stopping an Aria. The present, and momentum, quickly caught up to me as Karasuba bodily slammed into me. The red spear was torn from my grasp, flung away as we crashed to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

Elbows, fists and knees followed as we rolled, struggling for dominance. I had Reinforced my body beyond human levels; faster, stronger, and tougher than any un-augmented human could hope to be. The runes imbued in my clothes and armor enhanced me even further. It wasn't enough. I had said before that Karasuba was not human, and she proved it. She may not have been as Strong as Saber, but she didn't need to be; she was still inhumanely strong, and despite my efforts I was still only human. Once she had me in her grasp there was no escape from it. Even blunted by my magic and the Holy Shroud, my back slammed painfully against the ground. An involuntary gasp escaped my lips, only to be devoured by the ashen haired demon as she straddled me, pinning me to the ground with her superior strength and leverage.

She had one of my arms pinned over my head, but the other had gotten free in our brief roll across the ground. Gripped tightly between white knuckles was my last resort: unarmed and pinned, this would have been the end for be if I couldn't win against her superior strength. But I was never unarmed, I thought as I shoved the hilt of the Black Key against her side.

I should kill her. Before the hand trailing my face reached my neck: it would be too easy for her to snap the bone or collapse my trachea. I may have made the first mistake, misjudging her intent with her thrown sword, losing both Gae Blog and the advantage with it. But she made the mistake of not killing me when I had the chance, and now I'd finish this fight.

Except…

Except she wasn't fighting me anymore. Throughout our tussle, her lips never left mine; locked in a kiss as brutal and ruthless as our struggle. Despite it all, despite the oddness of it all, for that moment I let go the fact that we were trying to kill each other. She wasn't trying to kill me. The strange softness of her lips on mine, tongues continuing the struggle for dominance she already won, the weight of her. I hesitated.

"Gah!" A gasped as a sharp pain signaled her release of my lips. Darkness erupted from her shoulders, reaching to the boughs of the tree in two great wings. They flapped once, sending a cascade of black-light feathers dancing to the ground like fallen leaves. The skeletal remains of her wings flapped once again and stretched, the bony protrusions reaching into the treetops. Her left hand left where it was pinning my wrist, joining its twin as she stroked my face before sliding down my chest to support her as she sat up. Half-lidded grey eyes the color of steel gazed down at my widened surprised ones. Her lips tilted upwards at the corners, her bottom lip red with blood. A crimson droplet lazily trialed down her chin.

My hand shook. I should kill her. My body screamed out that I should kill her. Every instinct shrieking at once that _this fight wasn't done!_ She was dangerous. She was a threat. She was a killer, a demon drenched in the blood of a thousand battlefields. Her very existence was a threat to humanity. For one who followed the path of the Shura, wasn't it my duty, my obligation, to end her? I could do it. She may be the one on top, but I was the one who was armed. With a thought, a simple pull of the trigger, I could spear her black heart with the holy blade clutched in my hand and end her.

But I…

This was… I didn't know. I couldn't think. My mind had dissolved, had melted away at the ludicrousness of the situation. Karasuba… Karasuba just bound herself to me. What did this mean given that she was just trying to kill me? Worse, unlike my partnership with Akitsu, to whom I was only Ashikabi in name, this made me an official part of the Sekirei Plan. Was being an Ashikabi like being a master? Today had shown me that, contrary to how I'd been internalizing them, Sekirei were vastly different from Servants. Too many similarities and the memories that being back in Japan had brought up had me thinking of the race as vastly different then they really were. How many more misconceptions between Ashikabi and Masters did I have? There was still so much about this Sekirei Plan that I still didn't know. If being bound to a Sekirei was similar to having a Servant, then killing her would be a horrible mistake. Just like a Servant-less Master in the war, I would become a target for every paired Ashikabi in the city. I should spare her, even if only for my own ends.

No, I should just kill her. I already had Akitsu with me. So what if I was an official Ashikabi now, I would still have a Sekirei to fight beside me. It wouldn't be just me alone against the one hundred and eight – no, the one hundred and five opponents I'd have to face if I killed Karasuba. For all my initial doubts about her, I was starting to seek Akitsu as a real asset. She was gaining my trust, a definite markup as a partner from the crow on top of me. Becoming a target for the other participants could also be a boon: by encouraging them to come to me, I could deal with them on my own terms. Yes, kill her now and I was sure Akitsu and I could cover the rest.

That was… if Akitsu was still alive. I had left her behind so that she could distract the others, preventing them from following so that I could bring my mage craft to bear on Karasuba. That would leave me and maybe Akitsu against that many opponents, each with unknown abilities and varying levels of power. This past hour had shown just how wrong I was in judging the Sekirei Plan off my experiences with the Holy Grail War. Fighting just the two had shown me just how much variation these Sekirei had in strength: from the inexperienced child Yomi who was only slightly faster and stronger than a dead apostle, to the deadly Karasuba whose raw strength and speed were pushing into Servant levels. Even if Karasuba couldn't be trusted entirely, having an ally of her caliber could be invaluable to protecting the innocent citizens of the city, let alone actually surviving to the end. Maybe I shouldn't kill her. A hasty decision would leave me in the middle of this war with no allies at all.

I unclenched and clenched my fingers, tightening my grip on the holy blade. It as simple as that at all: killing her now would leave me with more than just the odd hundred Sekirei and their Ashikabi to contend with. She was also one of MBI's enforcers, lest I forget how we first met. There was no way they'd let me go after having killed their peerless sword. Having to deal with so many magical opponents would be difficult enough, especially while trying to minimize the amount of collateral damage done to the city _and_ maintain the secret of the existence of both magic and the Sekirei. Having MBI as an enemy on top of that, in the city they control and with my name and face in their records was beyond stupid. Suicidal didn't even come close. Killing Karasuba would be declaring war on every participant _and_ its moderators. Every day would be one assassination or battle after the next. Every single Ashikabi, Sekirei and MBI employee with ties to the Plan would have to die. More importantly, they'd have to die before the breakdown of power over the city allowed anyone to escape the culling. That would be hard, but doable. I could kill them. I could kill them all. MBI had maybe a couple hundred employees in the city. What was a few hundred against the odd thousand lives? More blood would have to be spilt than I wanted, much more, but that could end this whole scenario for good.

But I wasn't the only one protecting the people from the dangers the Sekirei presented, was I? From her work with Takami and the hints she'd dropped over the past few weeks I had the impression that Karasuba was one of, if not the lead, enforcer of MBI's will in the city. Wasn't she burdened with the same responsibility for protecting the people of Shin Tokyo from the other Sekirei? As soon as they knew of the attack they had cordoned off the area, evacuating the area and preventing anyone from getting caught in the crossfire between the Green Girl and Yomi. If both MBI and myself were trying to protect the lives of others, maybe instead of killing Karasuba and forcing us to be enemies… I should spare her in the hopes of becoming their ally.

After all, wasn't it her contacts, her experience in the city and position in MBI that allowed me to get this far? Karasuba did imply that MBI was looking to deal with Yomi in response to her assault yesterday. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have found Yomi or killed her before Minato fought her. I wasn't sure if Minato had I in him to give Musubi the order to kill. In fact, I was almost positive he didn't have it in him. He was too passive, idealistically peaceful and naïve; he just didn't believe the danger he was in and probably wouldn't until he was brought face to face with the truth of his situation. I was also unsure that Musubi. It wasn't that I didn't feel she was strong enough to protect my brother, but despite her thirst for battle she lacked that same killer instinct. I could personally attest to the fact that Yomi went straight for killing blows once her first attack was deflected. I didn't know if Minato and Musubi could win that fight if they held back. Didn't I owe her for helping me protect them?

No. Their safety was an unintentional benefit of our alliance. She was letting me join her, for whatever reasons I still didn't know, to pit me against Yomi. Hadn't she been pushing, subtly, me to fight the rogue Sekirei? Asking me what I was going to do when I saw her, using me to track her down when she lost the trail, even allowing me to be the first to fight against her? That Minato, Musubi or anyone else was saved by my killing Yomi wasn't attributable to Karasuba's magnanimity, but her selfishness. Could I trust such a person at my back in the conflicts to come? No. Absolutely not.

But I didn't know her reasons, either for pitting me against Yomi or for attacking me afterwards. Even now her eyes were still dilated and unfocused, her face flushed and her breathing heavy. She had been like this even before we had crossed blades, and while we did she was uncharacteristically silent. Do taunts, innuendo or talking of any kind since she first called my name at the start of her attack.

My real name. Shirou Emiya. By the words of my promise so long ago, I should kill her. One person, no matter what they could or couldn't do, shouldn't weigh so heavily on the scales that I should hesitate so. Did my words, did my past deeds mean so little? Or was it because this scenario was different than the one back then?

It wasn't just Minato and Musubi that she ended up protecting either. Her existence, her work for MBI protected more than just the people of the city, but also the safety of the other Sekirei and Ashikabi from the dangers of the outside world. Didn't I first meet her and Takami when they thought I was a spy? Karasuba was their ward against the militaries, governments and other companies that would otherwise prey upon Sekirei and Ashikabi alike. If the Sekirei ever left the confines of the city, if they were removed from MBI's protection, the results would be catastrophic. Simply the mundane threat of having so many inhuman soldiers was dire, especially if this race of supernatural beings could be bred or cloned true. An army of super human soldiers was bad enough to completely redistribute the world's power.

But their mage craft… Yomi's attack was a single action that I'd seen some wind magi cast as a one line aria. Akitsu's walls and barriers were much the same way, but her ability to instantly deposition water-vapor from the air into ice _and_ sculpt it simultaneously is something I'd never seen outside of frozen environments without the use of a ritual or Code. And that was only three of the odd hundred. I wasn't sure if Karasuba had any such abilities as one of the Power types, but her physical abilities alone were pushing Servant levels. Even if I assume she's one of the strongest of these Sekirei, an assumption I have no confidence making, removing her puts all of the others at risk. She is the check that keeps MBI's competitors away. The Church would see these alien beings as an abomination, issuing the order for Exterminatus of the race. In a way, I couldn't even blame them. When Musubi first kissed Minato, when I thought that she was attacking him, I was a hairs breadth from attempting to purge her and her entire race from the world myself. If their contract involved blood instead of a kiss, I know I would have. And they weren't the only threat out there either. The Mages Association, Atlas, even Sealing Designates and Apostles would view the Sekirei as a worthy enough prize to risk detection for the chance to grab a few for study and experimentation. The worst part is that I wasn't even sure they'd be wrong in that belief. How many extra-terrestrial magical phenomena could be safely studied? Not very many. Their entire race was in danger solely by existing on earth. Killing Karasuba here could risk everyone I'm trying to save by killing her.

I don't…

So what do I do? Do I kill her? Or let her live? Decide! I clenched my teeth in grimace. Decide dammit!

"You're mine now, Shirou Emiya. My Ashikabi. " She half purred, half growled. The feathers lightened and faded, disappearing back into motes of black and then nothingness, as her skeletal wings retracted. "Forever and ever, until the world burns to nothing but ash."

My eyes widened. No. This woman was too dangerous. If I were to weigh all the lives she might save against the lives she would take if given the chance. I was wrong about her, I realized. I thought that… with our strange but peaceful banter, I had thought that there was an actual person behind our casual murder attempts. I had hoped that there was. Maybe that was why I fought so hard with myself over the decision. But in the end she made it for me; if her words meant anything just now, then the lives she took weren't just incidental in the efforts to protect her fledgling race. Hers was a soul that sought nothing more than the death of the world and everyone in it. Maybe she was whole once. Maybe, if we had met then, things would be different. But it was too late for that now. It didn't matter that we hadn't met sooner. Nor if I had noticed before now…

Once again I was too late to save someone. Someone I might have, in a different world, been very close to.

"I am yours." I looked into her eyes, her smug contentedness melding into confusion. My resolve must have reflected on my face. "Until your world burns."

Trace On.

"I accept that contract."

The hammer came down. "I…" She gave a startled gasp, cutting off in a wet rattle halfway through her lips as the holy blade bore under her ribcage. Surprise and hurt flashed through her eyes as teardrops ran down her cheeks. "…thought you weren't like them…" Tears of regret, I realized, looking into the last remnants of the person who was Karasuba. I saw the look of bitter realization on her face, a face intimately familiar to me; the same look I often found haunting me in my nightmares and mirrors. She had the look of someone who gave up everything: her homes, her dreams, her desires, all for something… an ideal, a purpose, I didn't know… but was now left with nothing but the bitter taste of regret and self-hatred. And with that realization, the last glint of hope and… something I couldn't identify, disappeared. Then she stiffened, the rest of her words lost as she chocked on the air burning in her searing lungs. The crystalized prayers that comprised the holy blade turned against That Which Was Not Human, burning the impurities from her. Blood leaked from behind gritted teeth, this time hers and mine. I could see the glow through her leather tunic as her heart and lungs caught alight, the fires of purification spreading through her body. I felt nothing for her as her organs charred and ruptured. She had mad her decisions, just as I made mine. Now we both had to live, or not, with the consequences. Her bones carbonized. Shuddering, she jerked her back taught as if to scream, her whole body rigid. There was no sound, her eyes and mouth glowed as the flames swallowed her breath. For a moment, she was radiant, the light within her shining through her skin. It was not to last as her skin blackened and crumbled, light dying out with her life.

And then it was over.

The ashen haired Karasuba… the demon of bloodshed… the impish magpie… was now nothing but ash on the wind.

I stood up, brushing the leftover ash from the Shroud and letting the Key dissipate into motes of prana.

Two down. One hundred and six more to go.

The path ahead would be difficult, I thought, marching back to the clearing where I left Akitsu, but the necessary things in life often were. I armored myself in my resolve, taking refuge in the clarity of purpose. I had made a promise a long time ago to stick to my convictions, to the words that made Shirou Emiya. Now I had to uphold them once more. These creatures, these Sekirei, were just too dangerous to let loose in the world. There was simply no other option.

I would not falter in my purpose.

My will was made.

My mind was steel.

_End_

This is the first Omake. Not sure how man there will be, I haven't planned any more so far, but that may change as the story progresses or I get particularly inspired.

There is the possibility that I will use this for canon events that happen 'off screen,' and if that happens I will preface that in the opening A/N and mention it in relevant Shattered Chapters.


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